


you were finally here

by interstellarbeams



Category: From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series
Genre: Dreams and Nightmares, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-09
Updated: 2016-09-09
Packaged: 2018-08-14 02:16:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7994992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/interstellarbeams/pseuds/interstellarbeams
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Their hearts might be jaded and bruised, but somehow they are made whole in one another. Their jagged pieces held together by strength of will, and what others might call fate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	you were finally here

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks go out to Nora ([GreenFish](http://archiveofourown.org/users/GreenFish/pseuds/GreenFish)) for helping edit this fic and for all her encouraging words despite the fact that she isn't in this fandom.

In his nightmares, there are always grasping, desiccated hands and elongated fangs; upraised fists and flames behind his eyes, and blood so thick that he drowns in it. In his mouth, then his ears, then his nose, clogging full of it; gasping for air until all he can see is _red red red_ and then there is darkness, and silence.

  
He awakens, and there are arms, comforting, not restraining, that pull him close and relieve him of those agonizing moments. The words she whispers against his skin are soft, like a dove's wing, and just as pure, while his thoughts rage as rampant and destructive as a wildfire.

  
There is only love and forgiveness in her eyes, not hunger.

  
Hunger will be saved for a different night, a different embrace: where fears are allayed by the remembrance of life. That feeling that they are not alone in their frailties and fallibility as humans. Their hearts beating as one: hot blooded and alive.

  
There is still darkness, even upon waking, for their lives are surrounded by it. Their families, what little they have, engulfed in that darkness.   
Their hearts might be jaded and bruised, but somehow they are made whole in one another. Their jagged pieces held together by strength of will, and what others might call fate.

  
There is also light and it is her; diminished but still so much _brighter_ than anything he's seen. She has forgiven him long ago for bringing her into his darkness; no matter how unwittingly he did so, and he is thankful to her (and sometimes her God) for bringing him the _light_ that he didn't know he needed, until it was gone.

  
Things are different now, but there is still so much that they don't acknowledge: One. She used to be a preacher's daughter who believed that sin could only be covered by grace. Two. He was a convict who didn't believe in paradise, or even heaven, for that matter.

  
The only truth he held onto back then was a gun, and a brother who would have killed for him, but ultimately died for himself. She held onto her beliefs as tightly as she had clutched her Bible on Sunday mornings, her mother and brother by her side, as she had watched her father preach his words in the pulpit.

  
Now he holds onto _her_ with a vigilance, amplified by his heedless actions on that dark, empty road in Mexico. He had let her go that day, and he had gained nothing but pain from that rash decision to leave her stranded and friendless. Still, he knew, if he had looked back in that moment, he would have dragged her down with him, her innocence tarnished by the darkness in his soul.

  
She didn't need a con man at her side, now; she needed a father, mother and brother, all of whom were all now lost to her. He thought he could have protected her -- _should_ have protected her, back when he had agreed to her company outside the Twister, but never realized, until now, that he just didn't want to be alone. His only dream, besides that cursed money, was having a family -- a compassionate, loving family -- something he never achieved through his mother and father. His selfishness had led to Kate's death, and no matter how many times he had tried to push that blame off onto someone else, it always came back to him. Haunting him in the middle of the night, where the only sound in the room was his own shallow breaths, reminding him of what he'd done.

  
But despite it all - through some weird twist of fate, the Santa Sangre had brought Kate back to life. For months, she was alive -- living and breathing.

  
He had no idea.

  
When he finally caught sight of her, she was different -- something had changed. Some perverse soul had taken the place of Kate's pure and beautiful one and was using her body as a vessel. The things he had seen this not-Kate do were horrifying, even in _his_ jaded view.

  
He could hardly bear to look into her eyes, so cold and calculating, her voice turned biting, with a sting behind the words. This otherworldliness didn't belong to the Kate he knew -- Kate was human, with traits that he could never claim to have; she was kind-hearted and unselfish.

  
He had only seen cruelty and hate from this other _thing_ wearing Kate's skin.

  
She - 'Amaru' - was the very definition of a soul _destroyer_ , while Kate had only ever been an uplifting presence.

  
Only in his wildest dreams, his _visions_ , had Kate ever touched him, but that imagined touch had been like cool water on a hot day, while Amaru's touch burned, as if she still dwelled within the fires of hell. It had pained him to see his beautiful Kate desecrated by this witch.

  
But finally, the day had come. Amaru thought she had won; she had tried to open the Abyss to unleash all of hell's demons upon the earth, but Seth had been there, not only fighting for his life and for all of humanity's -- but also for Kate's.

  
He _had_ to save her, no matter the cost. He had even been willing to give up his life for hers. She deserved so much better than he could give her, but in the end, his love had carried her through.

  
She told him later, after everything they had been through, that just the sight of him had given her the strength to keep surviving, no matter how tireless Amaru's plans had been to break her.

  
Seth was brought back to the present by the sound of the air conditioning kicking on, reminding him that the woman in his thoughts was actually here, with him, and no longer a figment of his fantasies.

  
Her warmth was pressed against his side and he could smell the faint fragrance of her shampoo, the ends of her hair brushing his cheek.

  
She was really here.

  
"Kate?" he asked. After a moment, her eyes fluttered open, and she gazed up at him.

  
"Welcome home."


End file.
